2 of 4

We met again with our local agency yesterday evening.  one of the things I learned was that the more accurate terms for these two different agencies are “home study agency” (that’s the one here) and “placement agency” (that’s the one far away).  a friend that I was explaining this to likened it to a “buyer’s agent” and “seller’s agent” sort of arrangement, except way more touchy-feely AND the “seller’s agent” in this situation actually handles both sides of the adoption transaction if both parties are local, but because we’re adopting out-of-state, we need a local “buyer’s agent” to help us.  Please don’t think that I’m insinuating here that we are in the process of buying or selling children, but I just need an analogy that is familiar to people outside of adoption circles.

ANYWAY, we met with our social worker (“agent”) on Thursday and officially signed on with her and paid the application fee.  We’re truly on the path, now.  Woo hoo!  A few posts back, I’d mentioned that I didn’t understand the relief that some adoptive parents feel once they’ve made the decision to adopt–or at least that i wasn’t there yet.  well, i’m there now.  I feel very hopeful and optimistic at this point (despite the pile of homework she handed over to us during our meeting.  maybe at some point i’ll list all of the hoops we get to jump through with this round of paperwork.) and it is such a relief to know that any frustrations that I might feel during THIS process will most likely be directed externally–frustration at the system, at laws, possibly at agency staff (hopefully not that too often) or maybe even birthparents–but I won’t have to be mad at my own body and that will be a relief.

I also feel like that ocean that I’ve been staring at finally is at low tide and I can see the next set of stepping stones that will eventually lead me across.  I realize that our path might change while we’re walking through, but at least for now, I have homework!  and other productive things that I can do to move this process forward!  And really, you COULD say that we’re halfway through!  the title of this post refers to the fact that our homestudy agency told us in our first meeting that we would meet with her a total of four times and that the information meeting was the first of four.  Now, we’ve completed two of four, so…. we’re almost there, right?  (hahahahahahahaha)

Once again, our meeting with the homestudy agency affirmed our decision that we’ve made the right choice.  Our agent manages to balance quite nicely on that fine line between being completely relaxed, friendly and approachable and being professional, knowledgeable and organized.  She’s not afraid to tell us the truth and we very much like that about her.  Gotta go tackle some of those assignments!